


Choices

by hybryd0



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 14:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4610088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybryd0/pseuds/hybryd0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is expected to choose one suitor to marry.  The problem is he's in love with both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choices

**Author's Note:**

  * For [frenchkiss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frenchkiss/gifts).



Harry squeezed his eyes shut tighter and tried to curl into a smaller ball. He knew it was a childish thought that if he didn’t see them they wouldn’t be able to see him, but he really didn’t want to be found. It was his hope that no one would think to look for him in the stables, at least not right away.

The bad thing about his hiding spot was that the sound of the horses shuffling around and making noise disguised made it hard to actually hear if anyone was in there with him. Which is why his heart nearly seized in his chest when a voice spoke out of nowhere.

“I know you’re there, Harry. I told the guards looking for you that you weren’t here, it’s safe to come.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and slowly uncurled. His joints ached and protests from being stuck in one position for hours. He took a second to stretch before he headed over to the ladder that led down from the loft.

Niall was looking up at him with an expression that was a mix of amusement and worry. They both knew that while Harry loved the horses, he only came to hide in the stables when something was wrong. That was how they’d first met, with a young Harry hiding from the overwhelming responsibility being put on his shoulders.

“Have they done something to hurt you? I don’t care if they are princes I’ll knock their teeth out,” Niall said, eyes fierce.

Harry sighed. “No, no quite the opposite in fact. Prince Louis is so funny and nice and Prince Liam is so sweet and genuine.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Niall asked, his face melting into one of confusion.

“The problem is that in two days I have to pick one of them to marry,” Harry said as he sat at the edge of the ladder. He kicked his legs absently in the air.

Niall shrugged. “I still don’t see the issue here.”

“I don’t want to pick one of them, I want both of them.”

Harry wasn’t sure how he was supposed to choose between Louis, who was somehow how sharp angles and softness at the same time. He was witty and funny, always making him laugh and he was so very pretty. His eyes reminded Harry of the ocean by the castle he liked to retreat to during the winter months.

And Liam. Liam whose smile made Harry’s tummy feel a warm and bubbly while also possessing a body that filled him with a different kind of heat. Harry wanted to cuddle him up and bed him at the same time and he was lucky the two wouldn’t be mutually exclusive.

They had both been wooing him for three months. He had spent a month alone with each of them at a location of their choosing before all three of them came the castle that had been built in preparation of his marriage where the wooing had continued. And Harry was certainly wooed.

“So why don’t you try telling them that?” Niall asked.

Harry snorted. “And how well do you think that could possibly go over?”

“What are you gonna do then? You know if you don’t pick one of them then the Queen will just have more suitors sent and then you might have to pick someone you don’t even like,” Niall pointed out as he started dish out the feed to each of the horses. “Just talk to them, Harry. And stop giving poor Bressie a heart attack, yeah? You know how seriously he takes your safety.”

Harry grinned then, some of his sombere mood falling away. “I’m sorry for upsetting your boyfriend.”

“As well you should be, he had to leave early this morning when it was discovered you were missing,” Niall said.

“I’m also sorry for being a cockblock.”

“Don’t you have some princes to go well you want to have a threesome with them?”

Harry cackled and climbed down the ladder. He waved goodbye to Niall and scampered out of the stables. He did indeed have some princes he needed to drop quite the surprise on.

****

After he checked in with Bressie and humbly took his lecture (“Took ten years off me life, don’t do that again!”), Harry sent word for Louis and Liam to meet him at the underground lake. It was one of Harry’s favorite features and a very happy discovery during the construction of his castle. The royal mage, Grimmy, had been brought in to illuminate it with everlasting magical lights and he’d had a seating area built on one of the outcrops that overlooked the lake.

Harry was the first one to make it down there, but he was too jittery with nerves to sit at one of the benches. There were so many things that could go wrong, including one of them being so offended that it could lead to the end of the centuries of being allies. That still wouldn’t have been as bad as them both rejecting him for it, not when he’s had three months to start falling in love with them.

It seemed like it took forever before he saw them coming down the path together. They both looked so good it made his heart rate speed up, but it was easy to notice the tension between them. His stomach twisted in knots at the more real possibility that they wouldn’t be happy about what he had to say.

He moved to take a seat as they approached, hiding his shaking hands in his lap. He watched as they both sat on the bench across from him and he could see that they were both wary.

“I have something I need to tell you,” Harry said at the very same time Liam said, “We have something to tell you.”

The tension broke as they all laughed at the ridiculousness of it and Harry relaxed a little. “You go ahead.”

Liam cleared his throat and glanced at Louis, who gave him a nod, before he fixed his gaze on Harry. He looked so serious, so much more than Harry had seen him look in the past three months. He also looked nervous, which put Harry somewhat at ease; at least he wasn’t the only nervous one.

“There’s really no easy way to say this, I suppose,” Liam said finally, drawing it out. “We do both like you, so don’t think this is a reflection on you at all--.”

“Oh for the love of...Liam and I have been shagging since we got here,” Louis said, staring right at Harry.

Harry’s brain ground to a halt for a second. Of all of the things he could have anticipated Liam or Louis saying, that was probably the last. It explained the glance they’d shared.

And then Louis’ words really hit him and his jaw dropped. “You what?”

“We’ve been shagging since we got here?” Liam offered, almost as if it was a question.

Harry stared at them for a minute longer, switching his gaze between Liam’s anxious one and Louis’ defiance and then suddenly he was laughing. It was like a floodgate he hadn’t even realized was building up pressure was suddenly releasing but instead of tears it was just laughter. He realized all of a sudden how ridiculous their situation was, especially worrying that Liam and Louis didn’t like each other.

“Harry?” Liam questioned.

“I’m sorry,” Harry gasped out as he struggled to pull himself together. He finally managed to do it and marveled at how much lighter he felt given their revelation. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I promise. It’s just that I brought you down here to tell you that I liked you both and didn’t want to choose.”

It was Louis and Liam’s turn to stare at Harry in surprise.

“So as long as you both want me too, then all our problems are solved,” Harry went on.

“Of course we want you too,” Liam said quickly as if he felt Harry needed the assurance. He laughed then, face light up. “I can’t believe how easy this all was.”

“Not that easy,” Harry said, the reality of it starting to come to him. “I’m still expected to chose one of you in two days.”

“We thought about that already,” Louis said. “Triads are accepted in my kingdom. I’ll just propose to both of you and then it’s not technically breaking laws in either of your kingdoms.”

Harry couldn’t believe it was really that easy when less than an hour ago he’d felt like everything was screwed up. He was going to have to buy Niall something nice for giving him a push in the right direction. 

“Great, now that we’ve got that settled, I propose we seal the deal with a kiss...or three.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on [tumblr](http://multishippinfool.tumblr.com) :)


End file.
